Family Law Report
This year the Family Law area increased, and we now have Tamar Haigazian on board. Tamar has allowed us to take on more work and it is clear that the area of family law has no intention of slowing down. Demand for legal advice for family law has only increased and during this past year, we have been able to provide assistance to clients who are in need of help given the circumstances of the ongoing pandemic. We have been able to assist clients by representing them in mediations, online court appearances and finalising family law matters for those that need it most. We have noticed a significant uptake of the service by older clients who wish to finalise their matters in terms of a divorce. Again, this has been able to occur due to the fact that we can represent clients online via Microsoft Teams. While COVID-19 is restricting us from seeing our clients face to face, the advantages that we have found is that for those who are needing to resolve family law matters but also have family violence impacting their situation, the current restrictions have been somewhat helpful to victims of family violence. By not having to physically be present at a hearing but being online, clients feel that they are not necessarily having to have that emotional trauma repeated every time there is a court hearing.
Further we are excited at the prospect of changes within the Family Law area which will allow us to represent clients further as the new changes come in for the merger of the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court occurs. One example of this is the National Contravention List. This will be run online only and clients will be expected to deal with their contraventions in this format. So regardless of whether our client resides in Nhill or downtown Ballarat, they will not be discriminated against in terms of how quickly or how effectively they could have a contravention dealt with where the other party has failed to comply with orders of the Court. This is an exciting development and the beginnings of being able to better represent clients who need assistance but cannot afford it and cannot get Legal Aid to assist with their matter.
Further we are excited at the prospect of changes within the Family Law area which will allow us to represent clients further as the new changes come in for the merger of the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court occurs. One example of this is the National Contravention List. This will be run online only and clients will be expected to deal with their contraventions in this format. So regardless of whether our client resides in Nhill or downtown Ballarat, they will not be discriminated against in terms of how quickly or how effectively they could have a contravention dealt with where the other party has failed to comply with orders of the Court. This is an exciting development and the beginnings of being able to better represent clients who need assistance but cannot afford it and cannot get Legal Aid to assist with their matter.
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BGCLS Acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the region we service, their diversity, histories and knowledge and their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their Elders past present and emerging.
To find out more about the service please follow this link: About Us
BGCLS Acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the region we service, their diversity, histories and knowledge and their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their Elders past present and emerging.
Many images of Ballarat and surrounds by photographer, Andrew Thomas. Visit Andrew's website to see more of his beautiful images - http://www.andrewthomasphotographer.com/